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James Whitcomb Riley--The Sign-Painter Poet The following story, in substantially the words of the narrator himself, I have heard many times from Mr. Charles E. Neff (the present writer's father-in-law), who at the time of Riley's transition from sign-painter to poet, was a resident of Warsaw, Indiana, one of the towns which Riley passed through in his wandering, and the city in which the incidents narrated took place: "It was in the year 1873, when I was a young man twenty years of age, working in my grandfather's drug store at Warsaw, that I first saw Riley. One day, I remember, there appeared on the streets of the town a tramp (as he was supposed to be at that time), a blind tramp led around by a boy. I learned that he was soliciting trade as a blind sign-writer. He made signs on the plate-glass windows with soap and did beautiful scroll work and fancy lettering on several windows in the town that day. This 'blind' sign-writer was no other than the now celebrated James Whitcomb Riley. The town seemed to please Riley, and he soon got enough work to warrant his setting up a little shop there. He did all kinds of general work, such as painting houses and signs. Two of the houses he painted were those of Selden Webber and B. Q. Morris. Of the signs I remember many that were about town until very recently, all bearing his name very plainly. Among others was the one that hung over the walk at Hitzler's furniture store for twenty years, the one at Foster's drugstore, where Riley 'hung out' a good deal of the time, and the one at Phillipson's clothing store, this last being, I believe, the only one now preserved in Warsaw. The Phillipson sign' was buried in the cellar of the owner's store for about twenty years, and in cleaning up he one day accidentally came upon it and put it to
Object Description
Rating | |
Title | James Whitcomb Riley: The sign painter poet |
Item ID | index.cpd |
Description | An typed copy of an article written by Louis Wann and featured in the "Wisconsin Literary Magazine", October, 1916. The article concerns James Whitcomb Riley and includes narration told by Riley's father-in-law, Charles E. Neff, of Warsaw, Indiana. |
Subject | Riley, James Whitcomb, 1849-1916. |
Author | Wann, Louis, b. 1885 |
Contributors | Wisconsin Literary Magazine |
Publication Date | 1916 |
Time Period | 1910s (1910-1919); 20th century (1900-1999) C.E. |
Geographic Location | Wisconsin, United States |
Format of Original | Manuscript |
Item Type | Text |
Language | English |
Repository | Indiana State Library |
Original Collection | L135: James Whitcomb Riley collection; http://www.in.gov/library/finding-aid/4530.htm |
Digital Collection | Indiana Authors and Their Works |
Sub-collection | James Whitcomb Riley |
Rights | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/ |
Copyright Notice | No Copyright - United States |
Use Statement | This material is in the Public Domain. No restrictions on its use. Please cite using the Required Credit Line. |
Required Credit Line | James Whitcomb Riley collection, Rare Books and Manuscripts Division, Indiana State Library |
Digital Date | 2011-07 |
Digital Format | TIFF; 600 dpi; 24-bit color |
Technical Metadata | EPSON Expression 10000 |
Local Identifier | ISLI [Mss 1] L135 |
Description
Title | page 1 |
Item ID | ISL-JWRiley-425-01_page 1.tif |
Transcript | James Whitcomb Riley--The Sign-Painter Poet The following story, in substantially the words of the narrator himself, I have heard many times from Mr. Charles E. Neff (the present writer's father-in-law), who at the time of Riley's transition from sign-painter to poet, was a resident of Warsaw, Indiana, one of the towns which Riley passed through in his wandering, and the city in which the incidents narrated took place: "It was in the year 1873, when I was a young man twenty years of age, working in my grandfather's drug store at Warsaw, that I first saw Riley. One day, I remember, there appeared on the streets of the town a tramp (as he was supposed to be at that time), a blind tramp led around by a boy. I learned that he was soliciting trade as a blind sign-writer. He made signs on the plate-glass windows with soap and did beautiful scroll work and fancy lettering on several windows in the town that day. This 'blind' sign-writer was no other than the now celebrated James Whitcomb Riley. The town seemed to please Riley, and he soon got enough work to warrant his setting up a little shop there. He did all kinds of general work, such as painting houses and signs. Two of the houses he painted were those of Selden Webber and B. Q. Morris. Of the signs I remember many that were about town until very recently, all bearing his name very plainly. Among others was the one that hung over the walk at Hitzler's furniture store for twenty years, the one at Foster's drugstore, where Riley 'hung out' a good deal of the time, and the one at Phillipson's clothing store, this last being, I believe, the only one now preserved in Warsaw. The Phillipson sign' was buried in the cellar of the owner's store for about twenty years, and in cleaning up he one day accidentally came upon it and put it to |
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